Hockey-mad Toronto has a tendency to create some fascinating battles between perception and reality when it comes to the Maple Leafs. Nazem Kadri provides the latest example, as he’s a forward who’s either being sorely underrated or dramatically over-hyped depending upon who you ask.

“Naz is going to be a good NHL player,” said Burke in an email. “But young players need to bring urgency and energy to the game, and those components have tailed off.

“He’s going to be just fine.”

Of course, there’s always the possibility that Kadri isn’t all that great to begin with.

Cox indicates that the Kadri “yo-yo” situation might constitute the latest round of shots fired in the goofy little “war” between Burke and hockey commentator Don Cherry because Cherry is a big fan of Kadri. Even after defending the way the Maple Leafs are bringing Kadri along, Cox also surmises that the center might be the prospect that Toronto moves sometime between now and the trade deadline.

All this said, nobody would be stunned if Kadri were the prospect to move if the Leafs pull the trigger on a deal. He’s going to play in the NHL. The question is whether he’s going to be able to play in Toronto for this coaching staff, or whether, as often happens with young players, he’ll need a change of scenery before the light goes on.

That said, this is also true. Kadri still needs to acquire greater body strength through training, and the lack of that may be why his “urgency and energy” haven’t been in recent days what they were when he was first recalled.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to come from a trade would be a more sober assessment of what Kadri’s actually capable of. For better or worse, it’s unlikely that Toronto will provide the most “balanced” viewpoint of that player.

The New York Islanders made a splash on Friday, signing veteran forward Cal Clutterbuck to a five-year, $17.5 million extension — one that carries a $3.5 million average annual cap hit through 2023.

Clutterbuck, 29, has two goals and nine points through 25 games this year, while averaging 15:26 TOI per night (his highest average since joining the Isles four years ago). As per usual, he leads the club in hits — one of the staples of his game — and serves as one of the club’s alternate captains.

This new contract represents a nice raise for the former Minnesota Wild man. His last contract, set to expire in July, was of the four-year, $11 million variety, and carried a $2.75 million cap hit.

This contract also resembles the one GM Garth Snow gave another of the club’s role forwards. This summer, Casey Cizikas signed a five-year, $16.75 million extension — one with a $3.35 million hit — despite the fact he’d never scored more than 30 points in a season, or averaged more than 14 minutes of ice time.

This style of spending — along with splashes made for free agent disappointments Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd — is sure to raise some questions. The Isles opted not to spend that money on retaining two of their key players from a season ago, Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo, and the club has struggled to find its form through the first quarter of this year.

“We’re not going to give out any numbers now,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said yesterday, per Yahoo Sports. “The cap could range from where it is now to a couple or so million up, but we’re all going to have to focus on what makes the most sense moving forward.”

The salary cap only went up slightly for the current season, from $71.4 million to $73 million. The only slight increase was due to the lower Canadian dollar, which negatively impacted last season’s league revenues by “$100 or 200 million,” Bettman said earlier this year.

The loonie has been holding relatively steady for around half a year. It’s currently worth $0.76 USD and has been helped by the recent oil rally.

A flat salary cap would be bad news for big spenders like the Chicago Blackhawks, who still need to get Artemi Panarin signed to an extension. The Los Angeles Kings could also be forced to make some tough decisions, as they’ve got Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson in need of new deals. Ditto for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have key RFAs in Brian Dumoulin, Justin Schultz, and Conor Sheary.

Henrik Lundqvist has set such a high bar that his 12-8-1 record with a .912 save percentage is cause for great concern these days in New York.

That his backup, Antti Raanta, is 6-1-0 with a .932 save percentage only contributes to that concern, because if Raanta can manage those numbers, what’s Lundqvist’s excuse?

“I feel like I’m tracking the puck well, moving well,” Lundqvist told the Daily News. “It just comes down to some bad decisions at times that cost me.”

Indeed, December has not started well for The King. He’s allowed 10 goals in three starts for a save percentage of .894. In Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Islanders, his decision to poke check a loose puck led to the winning goal by Andrew Ladd.